At the outset today, I want to offer you a clarification and an apology.

Several of you brought to my attention that when I preached on September 23^rd, on the title "God, Wealth and Military Power," I conveyed that God brought the horror of September 11 upon our nation. In saying that God is trying to get our attention, I did not intend to convey that God used those deranged terrorists to kill some 6000 people to teach us all a lesson. Not at all -- I do not believe in such a cruel God. It is important for us to know that biblical authors had a very strong sense of God's judgment and wrath, which we ignore often to our theological peril. If we take scripture seriously, we cannot get away from that. But I do not believe in a cruel God.

As I always try to do, on that day, I was following the prophetic paradigm. I wanted to do what the prophets did at times of national calamity that is so different from what political leaders have done throughout history and still do across the world. Political leaders look for enemies outside of themselves. In fact it is advantageous for them to have enemies. I sincerely believe, with many others, that the war in Sri Lanka is not ending because it is in the politicians' self interest to keep it going. Prophets, on the other hand, do not to look for evil outside themselves but look inside themselves at their own individual and corporate sin. Obviously, there's a complex set of causes for what happened on September 11. But I hope you will agree with me that what happened on that horrible day at least partly has to do with our idolatry of wealth and military power. If you don't -- and speaking to this congregation, I always expect that we will have legitimate disagreement -- we must talk. Disagreement does not keep us from sisters and brothers in Christ -- that's a part of the diversity we celebrate.

But you see, this prophetic thing is harder to do -- because it goes against the grain of public opinion that is largely formed by our politicians and the media, neither of whom have God's kingdom values as their highest priority. And I cannot be true to my prophetic calling without calling us to repentance. This is what the prophets did. How many times when there is a national calamity, do we see the prophets calling people to national repentance? This, I still believe, is something we as a nation need to do.

Following my reflection on September 16^th, some of you may have wondered about my love and loyalty to my adopted country. Dhilanthi and I came to this country and lived in Chicago for 20 years now -- the longest that either of us has lived anywhere in our life. We chose to become citizens of this great country, not because we had to, but because we loved and appreciated being Americans. We deeply resonate with the noble ideals upon which this nation is founded, we are proud of its history, and we are grateful for the opportunities it has provided us. But patriotism has its place. I am first and foremost a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which I try to do with utmost diligence. I look forward to and I work hard towards God's reign of justice and peace for all people. Sometimes, and this is such a time, that the priority of God's reign goes against the priorities of our government and the wishes of most people. At such times, God's people, God's prophetic community must stand up and tell God's truth.

As you know, the gospel offends and if it offended you, I make no apology for that. But if in that process I exacerbated your grief at a time when our grief, anxiety and sense of loss were extremely high, if my comments were mistimed and weren't adequately sensitive to your processing of grief, I apologize. I am deeply saddened by that and I hope you will forgive me.

I have said this from time to time, and I assume you know it, but it bears saying again: whenever I preach, I am preaching to myself as well. And I know that if the sermon doesn't challenge me, it probably doesn't challenge you. If it bores me, without question, it bores you! I am also very aware that preaching's effectiveness is limited because its a monologue. Despite my best efforts at listening to what God is saying to me from scripture about you and the world, sometimes it is hard to bring the truth of the gospel down to earth, and break it down to real life principles of daily living. Often that's because the principles affect each of us differently. For this reason, I want to encourage you to talk to me about it and I want to say thank you to those who do. I really appreciate the conversations, feedback and even argument! When we had small groups we had more opportunities for such conversations. Now, we have to be more intentional finding opportunities for that. I am grateful that you are patient with me and you still allow me to practice my preaching on you!

That's all I need to say about myself. Now let's see what God is trying to say to us.

Last week, while we were in church the bombing of Afghanistan began. I have at least two serious concerns about this -- and you may have more. The first is that however "smart" our bombs are, a lot of Afghan people, most of whom are desperately poor and thoroughly oppressed by a government that they did not elect, are going to get killed. By the Pentagon's own admission its already happening. By the time this is over, it could be thousands. I am afraid many people in our society are going to dismiss it with a "Too bad, its collateral damage." Some people just don't seem to get it -- therefore the body of Christ must loudly affirm that each Afghan life is as valuable and precious as each American life. Just as we grieve for own who died or were hurt by the terrorist attacks, our hearts must grieve for each Afghan who would die or be hurt. Muslim or Christian, Afghan or American, rich or poor, they are all God's children. And God's heart grieves for all of them.

My second concern is that our military action is based on our need for vengeance. I am afraid so, because this war is not going to stop terrorism. Arresting or killing Osama Bin Laden is not going to stop terrorism. If we are serious about stopping terrorism we need to ask some tough questions about the root causes of terrorism: questions that are politically volatile. These questions, either our political leaders don't know to ask, because they arise from the perspective of a prophetic faith or if they know, they don’t dare ask them. The prophetic community must hold our elected officials accountable to ask those tough questions. It is easier to cave into our baser instincts and go for vengeance. But as Christians, we should have a serious problem with that -- because scripture categorically prohibits us from acting out of vengeance.

You must be wondering why I try so hard to get myself in trouble with you every Sunday? I mean, why couldn't I preach on a safe subject. I mean, I even put aside our lectionary scripture this morning and found other scriptures for us. Let me tell you why. How we think about this war, talk about it and act on it, have direct implications on our spiritual welfare. And as your pastor, my primary concern is to guide you to deeper discipleship and spiritual maturity. And an important part of spiritual maturity is developing our discernment to sort through the variety of stories, images and spin we get from the media and focus on God's story.

So, are there alternatives to war? Of course there are. And since we take scripture seriously we must find alternatives to war. Could Jesus have been any clearer? "You have heard it said, 'Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Or, "You have heard it said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:38,39 and 43-45). Could Paul have been any clearer? He writes in Romans 12:19 and 20: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Does the Bible offer alternatives? Yes -- and one of the more outrageous alternatives is feasting with the enemy. An easy reference to this is in Psalm 23, a psalm we know well. These days we have sought comfort from the psalmist's affirmation of hope: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The next verse is interesting: it speaks of table fellowship with enemies. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." Now, I know we haven't thought of it that way because when we think of enemies we have a clear "us versus them" dichotomy in our minds. But there is an interpretive tradition that suggests that when we do acknowledge that the Lord is our shepherd, our outlook and attitude towards life becomes so radically different, that we won't see such a dichotomy. The good shepherd spreads a table of abundance before us. God is our gracious host. And is there such a dichotomy in God's mind? -- of course not. God invites everybody to the table. Remember Jesus' story about inviting people from the highways and byways -- yes, even those whom we consider enemies are invited. At the table then, our dichotomies fall away. We are all God's children.

Now listen to this interesting story about the Prophet Elisha. When the story begins, the King of Aram (Syria) is menacing Israel, sending raiding parties across the border to steal crops, livestock, even young people for sale as slaves. It was a conscious policy designed to bring Israel to submission, under Aramean political, economic and military control. Political intrigue enters the story when the King notices one day that Israel seems to know in advance of all the King's military strategies. He suspects a spy in his CIA. After extensive investigation, his trusted aides return with this shocking news: No, there's no spy in our camp. The problem is that Israelite prophet, Elisha, who somehow divines the King's most highly-guarded orders.

So the King of Aram orders that Elisha be "neutralized." Troops are assembled and they undertake a cross-border raid. Under the stealth of night, they surround Elisha's home. As dawn breaks, the prophet's student intern arises to go out -- perhaps to the outhouse! He steps outside in the cool morning air, and is startled out of his wits because in front of him and surrounding the house is the Aramean army. In great panic, he runs inside and wakes up his mentor.

When Elisha finally calms his disciple enough to get a coherent story, the prophet seems curiously calm. "But we're surrounded by an army!" the intern exclaims. Elisha knows something the intern does not know. He prays: "Oh, Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." After the "amen," Elisha urges the young man to take another peak out the window. And he was dumbfounded by what he saw. The Aramean army was still there, armed and ready to go; yet surrounding their ranks was an even larger, encircling army of angels astride chariots of fire. It is about this we will sing in our closing hymn: "The hosts of God encamp around, the dwellings of the just." It continues, "Deliverance he affords to all, who on his succor trust."

At that moment the Aramean army advanced on the prophet. Elisha prayed again: "Lord, close their eyes so they cannot see." The entire army is struck blind and there is chaos. Elisha steps out of the house, calls out to the commanding general, "I hear you're looking for the Prophet Elisha?" "Yes," comes the stuttered response from a confused and frightened voice. "Come with me," Elisha says, "I'll take you to the right place." So this massive army, in comical, stumbling formation, meekly falls in line behind Elisha, and he leads them straight to -- where? To Israel's capital, to the king of Israel ­ delivered into the waiting hands of their enemies!

The Israelite king is overjoyed and immediately sets about to order a slaughter. But Elisha has something else in mind. He prays again, this time to have the Aramean soldiers' eyesight restored. And everybody is then further confounded by Elisha's next directive. "There will be no killing here today. Put away your weapons; gather food and drink. Today we feast!" It is about this that the Psalmist affirmed, "You spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies." And mortal enemies sit down at common tables for a grand meal. When everyone is satisfied, Elisha instructs the Arameans to return to their home. And the story ends with these brief words, "And the Arameans no longer troubled the land of Israel."

Perhaps I don't have enough faith, but somehow I don't see George Bush and Bin Laden having dinner together! But wouldn't it be great if when we somehow extricate ourselves from this military swamp we are now in, we would come to share our abundance with the Afghan people? Wouldn't it be great if we might invite them to our Thanksgiving meals and if they would invite us to their feast at the end of Ramadan? Perhaps we can do the same with Iraqi people and Palestinian people as well. But if we were to even dream of such a day, then we will have to stop killing now, wouldn't we?

Our prophetic calling is to insist that there are alternative, realistic and spiritually informed political strategies that are alternative to those policies which depend on superior fire-power and assume the need for political domination. We must lift them up and, together with other Christians who share this common vision, recommend them to our nation's leaders.

Let me offer you three pivot points as we consider alternatives. The first comes from Revelation 5. This symbolically rich story paints a picture of the end of history. As the sacred book of life is revealed, an angel asks, "Who is worthy to open the scroll?" But no one is able, no one in heaven or on earth. Neither kings nor presidents, generals nor multinational magnates is able. The narrator weeps at this admission. Yet a member of the heavenly hosts exclaims that there is one and only one capable of opening the scroll: the conquering Lion of Judah.

But suddenly, without warning, explanation or transition, the image shifts. Instead of a lion standing ready between the throne and heavenly hosts, the narrator identifies a lamb: "I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain. . . ." Indeed, the Lion of Judah has been transposed as the Lamb of God. This is the crux of the gospel. The Lion of Judah has conquered by being the Lamb that was slain. And as the Lamb opens the book, countless creatures and angels sing hymns of praise. "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing . . . for ever and ever!"

The second pivot point is the grand hymn found in Philippians 2. "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross." That's our model. He is the master that we follow. And that's why he is the savior. Notice now -- "Therefore," God highly exalted him. It is "therefore" and no "in spite of." Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The third pivot point is Jesus' instruction to his disciples from Luke 9:24, "those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?"

These are difficult times for people of faith because the values of God's kingdom are different from the values of the world. Our commitment to God's Kingdom values requires us to speak an unpopular language and risk taking unpopular stands. It requires us to be vigilant to carefully discern God's voice in the midst of the clamor of media voices screaming for our attention. It requires us to delve deeply into God's word. It requires us to be quiet and seek out God's heart. It requires us to pray in heartfelt intercession. It requires us to speak up so we will be heard. It requires us to act so we can be agents of change in this hurting and broken world.